Brake assemblies for casters have been provided in a variety of configurations for many years. The general purpose of these brakes is to prevent rotation of the caster wheel and thereby immobilize the article or equipment supported by one or more of the caster assemblies. In one prior brake assembly, a separate cam plate is pivotally mounted on the axle of the wheel and upon pivoting by a foot operated lever, its cam surface engages the side of the wheel shifting it axially and in effect binding the wheel against the opposite side of the horn to effect wheel braking.
In another prior brake assembly, a brake member is cammed into engagement with the outer surface of the wheel by a pivotal camming arrangement to effect braking. A variety of other braking arrangements, too numerous to mention here, have been provided in the past, but none are believed any more similar to the present invention than the ones just described.
Similarly, swivel lock assemblies have been provided for casters that accommodate swivelling movement of the wheel about a pivotal axis. In one conventional form of caster assembly, a swivel plate is provided mounted on top of the horn for pivotal movement with respect thereto, and this swivel plate is adapted to be fixed to the article to be supported. The swivelling movement of the caster is desirable to achieve increased maneuverability of the supported article. It is desirable to selectively prevent swivelling of the caster wheel to assist in completely immobilizing the article supported, particularly, although not necessarily, in conjunction with a braking assembly. Various locking assemblies have been provided for this purpose, but they have been found to be not only expensive to manufacture, but also to my knowledge, they have achieved swivel locking only in a semipositive fashion which is not desirable in applications that require a high degree of reliability in immobilizing the supported article.
It is a primary object of the present invention to ameliorate the problems noted above in swivel caster assemblies having swivel lock mechanisms and/or wheel braking mechanisms.